Online Petition Calls for Allowing Russians to Give Up Russian Citizenship without Approval of Russian State

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 7 – Since the launch of Putin’s expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many Russians have wanted to give up their citizenship in his country as a sign of their opposition to his aggression. But they face a serious obstacle: Russian law requires that they secure the approval of the Russian government before they can do so.

            That means that many who want to give up Russian citizenship and live outside of Russia even before they acquire citizenship in another state cannot do so easily. If they move abroad without giving up their Russian citizenship, they remain subject to Russian laws and can face difficulties associated without having an internationally recognized travel document.

            International law at present does not have a mechanism for issuing a passport to those who have given up citizenship in one country before they have acquired citizenship in another or for issuing a travel document that would permit such individuals to travel without additional obstruction among other countries.

            To address this situation, a group of activists has launched a petition drive online to call for an end what they describe as a situation in which such Russians are being “held hostage” by Moscow and thus deprived of their human rights by giving them such passports or travel documents (change.org/p/свободу-заложникам-российского-гражданства).

            The petition which is attracting support would not by itself achieve these goals. But it would call attention to this problem and make it more likely that individual countries and the international community would recognize this as a problem and then seek to address it perhaps with something like the Nansen Passports the League of Nations issued before World War II.

            But Nicholas Packajeu, a London-based legal expert argues, the current appeal would likely have an impact only on those with dual nationality given the international community’s commitment to the provisions of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (facebook.com/groups/839476106116331/?multi_permalinks=7109265629137316&notif_id=1704716115341837&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif).